Support Groups for People with Herpes

Australia Herpes Support groups and Dating | Sydney, Melbourne

If you live in Australia and have herpes, you may feel like dating just isn’t an option. It’s not true. There are plenty of options for herpes dating, as well as a large number of herpes support groups. It’s even possible to discreetly find and attend a herpes support group if you’re uncomfortable with others knowing about your condition.

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Australia Herpes Support

Numerous sites and forums can be found online for anyone who needs support. However, for those who need a more personal touch, there are three major herpes support groups based in Australia:

This Yahoo based group is specifically intended for those people in Australia that are living with herpes, and has almost a thousand members from all over the country, including Sydney and Melbourne. They are primarily an online herpes support group, but they do offer telephone support as well (on request), and can guide you to a dating site that caters exclusively to people with herpes (see below).

SHA actually helps residents of Australia with all STIs rather than just herpes. The website is a great resource tool for anyone who thinks they might have an STI. Once a positive diagnosis is confirmed, SHA also offers counselling both in person and over the phone to help people adjust to having it. They do not advertise any herpes support groups, but their professionals can refer you to a group if it will help with your transition.

This small user-run herpes support group focuses primarily on the Sydney area. Members meet regularly for meals, activities, and entertainment. It’s not intended as a dating event, but as a social event so those with herpes can form supportive friendships with each other. However, couples are definitely welcome, and it is also possible you could meet someone within the group.

Australia Herpes Dating

Just like finding a herpes support group, there are plenty of options specifically for herpes dating. Some are specialized and focus on Australians who need a date that’s comfortable with their condition, while others are international, but can show you singles in your area.

Positive Singles claims to be the largest herpes dating site, and features a real-time chat room and a mobile app for Android and iOS. They also encourage members to write blogs as a way of supporting others afflicted with herpes, and do accept members with other STIs.

It is free to join and free to respond to messages from others, but responding to “winks” and/or send messages requires an upgrade to a Gold Membership, which costs $29.95 per month. The charge is placed under the company name “SuccessfulMatch.com” to protect your privacy.

Meetup is a fast-growing website that allows users join groups, communicate with each other, and schedule events for free. The downside is that only subscribers can form groups. Fortunately, someone has already created a group for singles in Australia living with STDs, including the linked dating meetup for singles in Sydney.

This is another group that can be found on Meetup. As the name suggests, they’re a recently formed social group for Sydney singles that have herpes-2. Signing up is free, and suggestions are welcomed, so any activity you might enjoy is on the table. The only downside is the group only has 44 members at the time of this writing, so it’ll be trickier to align schedules for events. Still, as the group grows, so will the chances of an enjoyable and entertaining event. It’s worth a look.

This final option is a secondary site of Positive Singles, but it is built specifically for Australians with herpes. It offers all the same features, including messages, a real-time chat room, and user made blogs. Your profile will only be shown to other Australians with herpes, and you will only see other Australians with herpes.

Conclusion

Using these resources should help anyone with herpes live a normal life, both in dating and by providing a support group to handle any stress caused by the adjustment. Having an STI isn’t the end, only the beginning of a new chapter.